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| This is what Avengers actually believe. |
Let me start off by stating that I really enjoyed this movie. I think it will shake out as about my fourth favorite MCU movie so far, bested by its older sibling Winter Soldier, but still one of my favorites. So when I criticize this movie, understand that it is because this is intended to be a critical analysis, not a tea and cookies analysis.
I spend a lot of time reading superhero movie news. So I read all of the articles where the producers, directors, and actors said "We really didn't want to make this movie without Spidey" and "Spidey was in the movie from day 1". I get the sneaking suspicion they were saying that to allay our fears about the Spiderling feeling tacked on and unnecessary. Watching the movie left me with the distinct impression that Spider-Man was tacked on as an afterthought. His meeting with Tony Stark was long and bumbling in comparison to the crisp pacing of the rest of the movie and then young Parker was written out, put on a train, to go back home. Spider-Man's shuffling off was turned into an endearing moment for Tony, who while wrapped up in his quest for oversight didn't lose track of the fact that he had actively recruited a child soldier to fight his battle for him. When Spider-Man was knocked down and out, Tony rushed to his aid and told him to go home before things got hairy. Although, that doesn't change the fact that he recruited a tween to help him beat up people he considered dangerous to the world.
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| Child soldier |
In an equal degree to the shoehorned feel of Spider-Man's up-jumped teaser, Black Panther felt like he truly belonged in this story. His appearance was dare I say perfectly executed. He fit nicely into the movie's conflict between the Imperialist Avenger Dogs and the innocent third world countries they purported to "save" (in this instance Sokovia). It was an absolute pleasure seeing Black Panther and his father King T'Chaka on the screen. Their role as diplomatic protector of their powerless and impoverished neighboring countries was fairly brilliant and timely (in universe and out of it). I also loved the ending portions of T'Challa's role in this movie. His refusal to kill Zemo was only one-upped by his refusal to do the traditional heroic thing and walk away dramatically while Zemo killed himself. If Spider-Man's appearance made me think that maybe this re-boot will finally get it right, Black Panther's made me giddy with the thought of watching the development of a character with such an intriguing moral outlook. To top that off, his immediate forgiveness of Cap and Bucky in the face of evidence was as refreshing their immediate forgiveness of him.
Of course Black Panther, Cap, and Bucky weren't the only characters with well thought out morality. Not only did each of the Avengers get high quality treatment of their personal motivations, but the movie's villain, Baron Zemo, was emotionally nuanced as well. I was blown away by Daniel Bruhl's performance. It's hard to make a guy who commanded a Sokovian death squad and is trying to kill the Avengers into a sympathetic character, especially in a movie where Iron Man being robbed of the same trait.
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| I hear he's a real Fredrick Zoller |
Though Iron Man and Captain America were being contrasted in this movie, I couldn't help but find Zemo and Miriam playing out the same dichotomy of beliefs. While Steve believes in individuals right (obligation!) to act for themselves, Tony believes in appeal to authority. Since this is a Captain America movie, Steve is right of course, but it would be a discredit to the writers to let it go unnoticed that Steve's ideology was used for evil as well. When Miriam, the bereaved mother, approaches Stark at MIT, she is engaging in her own appeal to authority; an appeal to Iron Man. But in a twist Zemo is the same, a bereaved father who believes that the best person to solve his problems is himself. When the whole world tells Zemo to move, he looks to the world and says "No, you move".
In the end, it seems only the individualists got what they wanted. Cap got the Avengers in the divorce, Zemo got his revenge, but there was no justice for Miriam. Maybe it was because she asked someone else to fight her battle for her. Similarly, Tony was left with nothing but his toys Vision and War Machine. A person he built, and another he's rebuilding.
So despite its flaws of overproduction (a trend I hope to see less of in the future) and Spider-Man (whose new movie I'm rather looking forward to), Captain America: Civil War was still a better and more nuanced movie than the vast majority of the MCU. The fact that much of the same creative team is involved in Infinity War (so much war!) makes me really look forward to a future where the Avengers are more than Whedon-esque bobble-heads with pithy dialogue (I enjoy some good pithy dialogue, but Age of Ultron was fairly disappointing). Keep up the good work.
Roll credits
Post credits scene!
What's the deal with Vision?! "I'm on life's side"? More like "I'm on Tony's side". Seriously, what happened to that" One of the most powerful members of the Avengers just does whatever Tony says without seemingly giving it much thought? What a horrifying concept.
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